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Business Ethics Across Cultures

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Business Ethics across cultures
The first of the two articles that will be reviewed for this paper is by Tamar Lewin of the New York Times. In August of 2001 thirty Nigerian families sued the large drug company Pfizer in the Federal Court of the United States. The families alleged that Pfizer conducted an unethical trial on their children during the meningitis epidemic of 1996
The Pfizer Company sent a research team to the Infectious Disease Hospital in Kano, Nigerian in 1996 to test an experimental antibiotic, Trovan, on 100 children that had come down with meningitis. Pfizer want to ascertain whether this drug would be effective on the disease; until this point the drug had never been tested on children. For their control group Pfizer administered the very best treatment, ceftriaxone, too 100 other children. The suit states that Pfizer did not even administer the full dose of the ceftriaxone. The results from this trial left 11 children dead and many others brain damaged, paralyzed, or deaf. Pfizer’s only comment on the suit was that the fatality rate was less from the trial, than the overall fatality rate from the epidemic. Their spokeswoman also said that the trial had been a humanitarian mission and not a self-serving action. The suit against the company however, states that the company took opportunity from the chaos caused by the crises. They were able to quickly test a potentially dangerous drug without proper approval. The suit also claims that Pfizer also falsified document to later prove that they had the backing of the Hospitals ethics committee.
The trial was conducted at the same hospital where Doctors Without Borders were administering free treatment with the internationally recommended and cheaper antibiotic chloramphenicol. The suit further states that the company did not gain the informed consent of the parents and children; they were not even offered the chance to refuse and take the recommended treatment that was also being offered for free at the hospital; this act alone violates international law. According to the article many of the children were not even given proper diagnostic tests to make cretin the even had meningitis, did not receive follow up care, or have their treatment changed when it was found to be ineffective. Many of the parents did not even know that their child had been given the experimental drug or that they had been part of a trial. They were only told that Pfizer was giving their children volunteer relief.
Nigeria has also filed a law suit against Pfizer and has developed the National Health Research Ethics Committee (NHREC). The NHREC of Nigeria now has United States Federal Wide Assurance. This means that the committee proceeds according to the National Code and reviews protocols and these protocols must meets the requirements of United States Federal Government funded research. This will help insure the safety of the people. Companies wanting to conduct research in Nigeria will now need to make sure that their proposal has been approved by the United States ethics committee.

In spite of the potential for ethical problems, health care research in developing countries has been expanding and is likely to continue in the years to come. An increasingly large number of the research submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is being conducted overseas. The FDA has agreed to accept trials conducted outside the United State. Health care research has grown considerably. Although some of the reasons for this are acceptable, the economic disparities between the rich and the poor of the world make exploitation more likely, not less. The reasons for the move to developing countries are fairly obvious; cheaper, easier, and faster to carry out trials. Ethical regulations, approval, and oversight may be less rigorous and the processes faster. Participants are easier to recruit and it is not likely that they would be on any other medications that might interfere with the trial.
It would be nearly impossible for Pfizer to do a test, like they did in Kano, in the United States. One of the biggest ethical problems lies in consent. When a company goes into a third world country to conduct tests it is difficult for them to explain what exactly will be taking place in a way that the participants will understand. It is their fore sometimes necessary for a government body to step in and protect the people. Here in the United States most of us can understand what is being asked of us and we can make an educated informed decision. These people were not even given that chance. Pfizer played upon their emotionally frightened state and did tests on their children without consent.
The second of the article that will be discussed covers the topic of labor unions and human rights in Columbia. In 2005 Rob Harris and Tovin Lapan traveled to Columbia to investigate the allegations that the Coca-Cola Company and even members of the Columbian government were torturing, kidnapping, bullying, and even killing union leaders and their followers at several of their bottling plants. Frontline/World has the entire video series available for view on PBS.org; a transcript of the program is also available. In 2001 a lawsuit was filed against Coca-Cola and its Colombian bottlers in Miami’s federal court. The suit aleged the company had collaborated with paramilitaries factions to threaten and assassinate union organizers. U.S. companies working on foreign soil may be sued in America for their actions abroad. Lawyers from the International Labor Rights Fund took up the case with the assistance of the United Steelworkers of America.
SINALTRAINAL is the main labor union and the ones that have brought the lawsuit against Coke. They are a left-wing union whose militancy has antagonized the management of Coke. In 2004, the union organized a hunger strike to protest local plant closings by Coca-Cola. Union leaders in Columbia live with constant death threats from right-wing paramilitaries. Many of them do not travel without bodyguards and most carry a gun. Many have had family members kidnapped, threatened, and even killed.
Coca-Cola FEMSA is the Mexico-based owner of the plant and they bottles 40 percent of the Coke consumed in Latin America. The company makes billion here however, Coca-Cola owns only 40 percent of FEMSA and is under a bottling agreement. This means that Coca-Cola is not legally responsible for FEMSA’s labor practices.
Coca-Cola and FEMSA were cleared of any wrong doing in two judicial inquiries conducted by the Colombian courts. But that’s hardly conclusive, according to labor historian Daniel Garcia Peña of the National University of Colombia. “It is sad to say, but crime does pay in Colombia,” Due to the chaotic and corrupt Colombian judicial system, it is unlikely that anyone will be held accountable for the violence against SINALTRAINAL in Colombia.
The union members will continue to fight for justice in the American court system. Many universities here in the United States have been boycotting Coke and are fighting for the human right denied these employees. Every time FEMSA fires one of its long time employees it saves itself over $200.00 per month. Starting wage for this company are about $130.00 a month, where as one of their skilled employees who has worked there for some time might make as much as $380.00 a month. These jobs are very sought after even with the despicable conditions, long hours, and threats if they complain.
In The United States workers are protected from unscrupulous companies by the unions they work for. Every company in America wants to make a profit; some will even running over their employees if it will improve their bottom line. The unions however, see that the hours are controlled, the conditions are safe, and give the employee an avenue of complaint if there is a problem. The same types of problems facing Colombia today happened in the United Stated during the first decades of the Industrial Revolutions. It could happen here again if our right to form unions were deigned us. Count yourself lucky that you were born into a country of relative piece and remember to give thanks to the men and women who fought and died in this country to give us the rights and freedoms we have.

References
Harris, R., Lapan, T. (2005) Frontline/World “Columbia: the Coke-Cola Controversy” http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/fellows/colombia0106/ Lewin, T. (2001) The New York Times “Families Sue Pfizer on Test of Antibiotic” http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/30/business/families-sue-pfizer-on-test-of-antibiotic.html

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